In Japan, Kevin and I would jump at any themed cafe opportunity that included our fave characters. We once went to a Rilakkuma Themed Restaurant in Shibuya and loved how there were plushies everywhere to eat with. And not only that, but the food itself was in the characters' shapes!
Seldom do we have official themed cafes here with popular brands (Afters Ice Cream and Honey & Butter do great collabs though!) so I was so ecstatic when I found out that all Roasting Water locations were having an official Rilakkuma collaboration! WOW!
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I actually went to an "unofficial" Rilakkuma themed cafe before. It was in the 626 LA area. You can check it out here.
Seldom do we have official themed cafes here with popular brands (Afters Ice Cream and Honey & Butter do great collabs though!) so I was so ecstatic when I found out that all Roasting Water locations were having an official Rilakkuma collaboration! WOW!
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I actually went to an "unofficial" Rilakkuma themed cafe before. It was in the 626 LA area. You can check it out here.
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The Roasting Water x Rilakkuma Collaboration includes themed bottles designed with cute Rilakkuma, Kolirakkuma, and other characters on them! All of the shops are decorated with the popular character and every location is decorated differently with a different theme to it! There are also exclusive pins to collect, exclusive tote bags and plushies, stickers, and cute sleeves (for hot drinks) too! Oh yea, and there are hats! Kevin and I bought the hats to match too! Sooooo kawaii!
There are 8 Roasting Water locations: 2 in Garden Grove, Westminster, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Riverside, Corona. I wanted to check out as many as I could in and near Orange County so I mapped out my Roasting Water adventure with that in mind. I also dragged Kevin and took his brother Bryan along (to take pics of us) on our adventure!
Let's start!
The Roasting Water x Rilakkuma Collaboration includes themed bottles designed with cute Rilakkuma, Kolirakkuma, and other characters on them! All of the shops are decorated with the popular character and every location is decorated differently with a different theme to it! There are also exclusive pins to collect, exclusive tote bags and plushies, stickers, and cute sleeves (for hot drinks) too! Oh yea, and there are hats! Kevin and I bought the hats to match too! Sooooo kawaii!
There are 8 Roasting Water locations: 2 in Garden Grove, Westminster, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Riverside, Corona. I wanted to check out as many as I could in and near Orange County so I mapped out my Roasting Water adventure with that in mind. I also dragged Kevin and took his brother Bryan along (to take pics of us) on our adventure!
Let's start!
FIRST STOP:
Fountain Valley!
Address:
11707 Edinger Ave
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
The Fountain Valley Roasting Water is one of the bigger locations and it is a must-visit if you want to have tea time with Rilakkuma and friends. The store is decked out with wall decor all over the place, inside and outside! To the right side you will see circular tables (used to have chess sets on them when un-themed) with Rilakkuma's faces on them. To the left side of the store is a dining table where plushies are laid out on chairs with tea sets and plates. There are also vacant chairs for guests to sit in to pose!
As you can see here in the above photo, they didn't remove the chess outline completely from the table. Wonder why they didn't try harder...? (Maybe it was checkers though)
Having so much fun drinking tea and chatting with my bearloved friends!
I got a hot drink because I wanted to collect all of the drink sleeves! They are so cute and there are 3 of them total! At this location, I got the Kolirakkuma Bear sleeve. The drink I ordered is called the Oolong Fresh Cream which is one of my favorite hot drinks here.
Not sure if you can tell the thing in my mouth, but the drink stopper / stirrer ..?? is also an official Rilakkuma one too! It's Rilakkuma shaped!
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SECOND LOCATION:
Huntington Beach
Address:
7862 Warner Ave Unit 106
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
This is what the entrance looks like! The Huntington Beach location has more of a space theme! I personally love astronomy and I love how they combined it with the characters! So cute! See the DANGO (mochi on a stick) LOOKIN` LIKE SPACE SHIPS? LOL *melting
I love the Huntington Beach location because it is huge! This store has 2 floors! WOW!
So uber cute! The stairs are decorated too!
Their plushie display has so many cute plushies!
This is the upstairs portion! I was so excited to relax with my Rilakkuma (Kevin too I guess...) while catching up on some Rilakkuma TV.
The giant Rilakkuma is SOOOOOO SOFT AND GIANT!
Kevin and I pretended to pose like we were playing video games. We just happened to have a nintendo switch controller because Kevin brings it around sometimes to play while I take photos at food blogging media events. The portability is great!
They had a cute Kiiroitori (yellow bird) character ball to play with!
Loving the details! They decorated these chairs too! And even the back of the chair has the classic "zipper" that the plushies usually have on their backs!
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THIRD LOCATION:
Long Beach
Address:
7561 Carson Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90808
This location is at the Long Beach Town Center. The location itself was smaller than I expected but they had two giant swinging chairs with a giant Rilakkuma on one!
So third location, we finally were able to collect all three sleeves! They are soooooooo cute! I am gonna keep them foreva....LOL
There is a super cute selfie mirror inside with Rilakkuma and friends!
I am always scared of getting on these swinging chairs. I am quite conscious of my weight and always feel like I would break them... or that they would be loose and I'd fall or something. I DON'T KNOW T___T But when I finally got on it was so comfortable!
ALL OF OUR DRINKS!
Even the aprons be cuuuuuuuute. Lowkey I kinda wanted one. Do they sell these? Would they be willing to sell these? LOL
So the crew got tired and we only hit up 3 locations. I plan to hit up 3 more locations including the two Garden Grove locations and original Westminster location. I am not going to bother driving to Riverside or Corona because it's too far from me. But hey, at least I'll be covering 6/8 locations!
If you are a Rilakkuma fan, I urge you to go to a Roasting Water location! The decor is so legit and well-done in my opinion. The merchandise are cute too! But you better hurry, because this collab is only for the month of December 2018!
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IF YOU ONLY HAVE TIME FOR ONE
The Garden Grove locations and Westminster location are quite small. So if you only have time for one location, I recommend either going to the Fountain Valley or Huntington Beach location. They are the two biggest locations around Orange County. It all boils down to whether you want to have a tea party with Rilakkuma, Kiiroitori, and Koliraakkuma in Fountain Valley or just lounge and watch TV with Rilakkuma in Huntington Beach.
THE COLLAB INFO
- Hats are yellow with a Rilakkuma character embroidered on the front. They cost $22 and comes with a free cold drink (which includes the Rilakkuma themed reusable hard plastic bottle). Drinks must be from the milk tea menu.
- You also get a free pin with every Roasting Water x Rilakkuma purchase (drink, plushie, sticker, etc.)
- If you just want to buy the drink alone, it will cost $5 and comes with the reusable Rilakkuma themed plastic bottle! (will come with free pin)
- If you spend $35 or more, you also get a free tote bag.
- Stickers cost $5 (if I recall correctly)
- When sharing and posts on Instagram, hashtag #RWxRK for a chance to win special prizes
- Collab is for the entire month of December 2018
HOW ARE THE DRINKS THOUGH...
To be honest, I don't like the drinks much here, especially the teas. They are usually bitter (perhaps overbrewed?) and just not enjoyable because of that. However, I do enjoy their smoothies and I think they do a great job at that. Tip: two add-ons are free. Don't forget! They have unique "pom-poms" as add-ons which is pomegranate "boba"...?! Anyway
For hot drinks, I usually get the oolong fresh cream. I feel like the fresh cream adds a nice neutral, fresh and whippy texture that balances the somewhat bitter oolong. I usually enjoy their sea salt jasmine drink as well for cold drinks.
My favorite drink here though is the Guiltea Pleasure smoothie and the Pitaya / Dragonfruit smoothie. SO GOOD!
TIPS:
- Go during the daytime for better photos. Even better, go during golden hour for softer lighting (about an hour or two before sunset).
- Actually, go early when they first open (7:30am weekdays and 9am Sundays) because likely no one will be there and you have the freedom to take 63759637 photos and chill.
- If you have your own Rilakkuma plushies, bring them for pictures!
- If you plan to go to all of them near Orange County, the locations are about 15-20 minutes apart driving.
LOCATION THEME GUIDE
- Long Beach: Girly and Feminine. Has two swinging chairs with flowers and one giant Rilakkuma
- Fountain Valley: Tea Time / Dining with Rilakkuma and Friends. Includes Rilakkuma, Kiiroitori, and Kolirakkuma plushies to pose with.
- Huntington Beach: Space-y Theme with bean bags, one giant Rilakkuma, Kiiroitori ball, and TV to pose with.
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